1967 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election

1967 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election

←  1962 21 February 1967 1972  →
all 75 seats in Legislative Assembly 38 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	58.8%
First party Second party   INC Leader Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad Party INC JKNC Leader's seat Amirakadal Safakadal Last election New 70 Seats won 61 8 Seat change New 62   Third party   Party ABJS Last election New Seats won 3 Seat change New
Chief Minister before election Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq INC Elected Chief Minister Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq INC

Elections for the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir were held in February 1967. ^{[1] [2] [3]} Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq was appointed Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Background

In 1965, the working committee of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference announced that it would dissolve itself and merge with the Indian National Congress. A rival faction led by Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad refused to go along and contested the elections under the National Conference banner. ^[4]

Prior to that, in 1963, the Jammu Praja Parishad also merged into the national party Bharatiya Jana Sangh. ^[5] These mergers are seen by analysts as a major "centralizing strategy" and a victory for the Hindu nationalist agenda of the Praja Parishad and its allies. ^[6]

There were reports that Bakshi was planning to forge an electoral alliance with the Jana Sangh, despite their differences on the Article 370, but the alliance did not materialize. The Jana Sangh, whose main base was in the Jammu Division, planned to contest in the Kashmir Valley taking advantage of the rivalry between the Congress and the National Conference. ^[7]

The election

Of the 75 seats, 42 seats were allocated to the Kashmir Valley, 31 to Jammu, and 2 to Ladakh. ^[7]

The National Conference contested 73 seats overall. The Jana Sangh contested all 31 seats of Jammu and several seats in the Valley. The Plebiscite Front officially boycotted the election, but several members contested as independent candidates, including the General Secretary Ali Mohammad Naik, who contested from Tral, and Ghulam Mohammed Bhat, contesting from Habbakadal in Srinagar. The Awami Action Committee also boycotted the election. Other parties that contested included the rump group of the National Conference under the leadership of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, the rump group of the Democratic National Conference under the leadership of Ram Piara Saraf, and the national parties Communist Party of India, Praja Socialist Party and the Hindu Mahasabha. ^[7]

The nomination papers of 118 candidates were rejected on technical grounds, 55 of them because the candidates had failed to take the obligatory oath of allegiance to the Constitution. As a result, 22 seats in the Valley were unopposed, resulting in a win for the Congress candidates. ^[8]

Simultaneously, elections were also held for the Lok Sabha (the Lower House of the Indian Parliament) in the 6 Lok Sabha constituencies of the State. ^[7]

Results

The Indian National Congress won 61 seats in the state assembly, emerging as the winning party. Bakshi's National Conference won 8 seats and the Jana Sangh 3 seats. Three other seats were won by independent candidates, one of them by Ali Mohammed Naik of the Plebiscite Front. ^{[3] [9]}

In the elections for the Lok Sabha, 5 of the 6 seats were won by the Congress, of which 2 were unopposed. The remaining seat was won by Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad of the National Conference, contesting from Srinagar. Scholar Sumantra Bose remarks that Bakshi might never have won a free election "at any point during his ten years in office", but he did so now holding the banner of Kashmiri regionalist resistance to New Delhi. ^[9]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	423,922	53.02	61	New
	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	137,179	17.16	8	62
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	131,542	16.45	3	New
	Others	38,552	4.82	0	0
	Independents	68,377	8.55	3	1
Total		799,572	100.00	75	0
Valid votes		799,572	86.51
Invalid/blank votes		124,727	13.49
Total votes		924,299	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,419,253	65.13
Source: ECI [10]

Results by constituency

• Winner, runner-up, voter turnout, and victory margin in every constituency ^[11]

Assembly Constituency		Turnout	Winner					Runner Up					Margin
#k	Names	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%
1	Karnah	-	Mohammed Yunis Khan		INC	Elected Unopposed
2	Kupwara	-	Mohammad Sultan Tantray		INC	Elected Unopposed
3	Lolab	-	Ghulam Nabi Wani		INC	Elected Unopposed
4	Bandipora	69.99%	M. A. Khan		INC	12,733	57.39%	Abdul Kabir Khan		JKNC	8,288	37.36%	4,445
5	Handwara	-	Abdul Ghani Lone		INC	Elected Unopposed
6	Harl	54.99%	Abdul Gani Mir		INC	11,226	67.42%	G. Rasool		Independent	5,425	32.58%	5,801
7	Rafiabad	59.06%	Ghulam Rasool Kar		INC	8,951	57.85%	J. Singh		JKNC	6,521	42.15%	2,430
8	Baramulla	55.01%	Shamas-Ud-Din		JKNC	9,180	58.28%	H. Singh		INC	6,572	41.72%	2,608
9	Sopore	30.9%	Ghulam Nabi Mircha		INC	4,434	56.64%	A. G. Panzoo		JKNC	3,068	39.19%	1,366
10	Pattan	53.65%	G. R. Dar		JKNC	7,764	56.9%	G. Q. B. Bedar		INC	5,881	43.1%	1,883
11	Sonawari	63.13%	Abdul Aziz Parray		INC	13,563	65.07%	G. Rather		JKNC	7,281	34.93%	6,282
12	Gulmarg	46.93%	S. S. Singh		JKNC	9,970	80.6%	G. M. B. Jalile		INC	2,400	19.4%	7,570
13	Uri	-	M. M. Khan		INC	Elected Unopposed
14	Kangan	-	Mian Bashir Ahmed		INC	Elected Unopposed
15	Ganderbal	-	Mohammed Maqbool Bhat		INC	Elected Unopposed
16	Amira Kadal	52.73%	Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq		INC	10,480	73.57%	G. A. Sofi		JKNC	3,765	26.43%	6,715
17	Habba Kadal	34.93%	S. K. Kaul		INC	3,486	46.91%	R. N. Kaul		JKNC	1,555	20.93%	1,931
18	Tankipora	39.53%	Noor Mohammad		INC	5,340	67.51%	A. R. Keng		JKNC	2,570	32.49%	2,770
19	Khanyar	26.17%	G. Ahmed		INC	2,656	44.97%	G. A. R. Bhat		JKNC	2,595	43.94%	61
20	Safa Kadal	24.96%	Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad		JKNC	4,558	70.67%	M. M. Salali		INC	1,892	29.33%	2,666
21	Zadibal	28.55%	Shaik Mohammad Abdullah		JKNC	3,599	52.1%	M. A. Shair		INC	1,974	28.58%	1,625
22	Hazratbal	41.27%	M. Y. Sidiqi		JKNC	6,550	55.01%	G. A. Sofi		INC	4,763	40.01%	1,787
23	Beerwah	-	A. Quddus		INC	Elected Unopposed
24	Khan Sahib	-	A. G. Namthali		INC	Elected Unopposed
25	Budgam	41.03%	H. S. Mehdi		JKNC	6,250	64.12%	M. S. Ali		INC	2,304	23.64%	3,946
26	Charari Sharief	50.12%	Abdul Qayoom		INC	6,241	52.21%	G. N. Wani		JKNC	4,766	39.87%	1,475
27	Chadoora	57.31%	Mir Mustafa		INC	9,050	66.95%	A. R. Magrey		JKNC	4,467	33.05%	4,583
28	Rajpora	-	G. M. Rajpori		INC	Elected Unopposed
29	Pulwama	-	Sanaullah Sheikh		INC	Elected Unopposed
30	Pampore	37.46%	P. M. Shah		INC	5,271	64.87%	A. A. Dar		Independent	2,855	35.13%	2,416
31	Tral	78.99%	A. M. Naik		Independent	12,781	72.14%	A. G. Trali		INC	4,935	27.86%	7,846
32	Shopian	63.29%	S. A. Shamim		Independent	7,576	45.7%	G. H. Khan		INC	6,195	37.37%	1,381
33	Noorabad	-	Abdul Aziz Zargar		INC	Elected Unopposed
34	Devsar	-	Manohar Nath Kaul		INC	Elected Unopposed
35	Kulgam	-	M. Y. Bhat		INC	Elected Unopposed
36	Nandi	-	A. Rehman		INC	Elected Unopposed
37	Pahalgam	-	Makhan Lal Fotedar		INC	Elected Unopposed
38	Srigufwara–Bijbehara	-	Mufti Mohammad Sayeed		INC	Elected Unopposed
39	Anantnag	-	Shamasuddin		INC	Elected Unopposed
40	Kothar	-	Mohammed Ashraf Khan		INC	Elected Unopposed
41	Verinag	-	Syed Mir Qasim		INC	Elected Unopposed
42	Naubug	-	Hassan-Ud-Din		INC	Elected Unopposed
43	Leh	79.78%	S. Wangyal		INC	16,270	81.69%	N. C. Stanzin		Independent	3,647	18.31%	12,623
44	Kargil	67.77%	Kachoo Mohammed Ali Khan		Independent	10,868	59.79%	A. I. Shah		INC	7,309	40.21%	3,559
45	Kishtwar	44.82%	G. Mustafa		INC	7,726	69.07%	G. Nabi		Independent	3,459	30.93%	4,267
46	Inderwal	43.99%	Khan Abdul Gani Goni		INC	5,993	56.05%	L. Mallik		JKNC	3,235	30.25%	2,758
47	Bhaderwah	39.18%	J. Ram		INC	5,562	58.56%	Faqiroo		Independent	3,936	41.44%	1,626
48	Doda	43.19%	Lassa Wani		INC	5,497	53.26%	Mohammed Akbar Kichloo		JKNC	3,225	31.25%	2,272
49	Ramban	42.48%	H. Raj		INC	3,913	42.49%	D. Dass		PSP	2,729	29.63%	1,184
50	Banihal	58.46%	M. Akhtar		JKNC	7,570	54.22%	Assadullah		INC	6,391	45.78%	1,179
51	Gulabgarh	88.14%	Mohammed Ayub Khan		INC	23,307	96.36%	F. Mohammed		JKNC	880	3.64%	22,427
52	Reasi	69.27%	Bansi Lal Kohistani		INC	8,417	48.4%	R. K. Kaushal		ABJS	7,999	45.99%	418
53	Tikri	62.13%	Shiv Charan		ABJS	8,926	49.39%	M. Ram		INC	7,793	43.12%	1,133
54	Udhampur	61.6%	H. Raj		INC	7,267	40.19%	P. Ram		ABJS	5,993	33.15%	1,274
55	Ramnagar	56.54%	Chandhu Lal		INC	10,687	61.7%	Ram Dass		ABJS	5,017	28.96%	5,670
56	Basohli	56.14%	Mangat Ram Sharma		INC	7,805	53.25%	U. Chand		ABJS	4,073	27.79%	3,732
57	Billawar	71.01%	Balbir Singh		INC	10,711	58.48%	Dhian Singh		ABJS	6,415	35.03%	4,296
58	Kathua	66.17%	Panjaboo Ram Alias Singh		INC	10,598	53.74%	K. Chand		ABJS	6,176	31.32%	4,422
59	Jasmergarh	78.45%	Girdhari Lal Dogra		INC	14,823	57.23%	Baldev Singh		ABJS	10,162	39.23%	4,661
60	Samba	72.54%	P. Nand		INC	8,349	46.6%	G. Chand		ABJS	5,156	28.78%	3,193
61	Ramgarh	72.41%	D. Nath		INC	9,789	52.63%	D. Dass		ABJS	4,525	24.33%	5,264
62	Bishnah	81.14%	Bhagat Chhaju Ram		INC	11,037	55.31%	S. Dass		ABJS	3,832	19.2%	7,205
63	Ranbir Singh Pora–Jammu South	76.61%	K. Singh		INC	8,525	49.99%	J. Raj		JKNC	4,985	29.23%	3,540
64	Jandrah Gharota	66.36%	Rounaq Singh		INC	8,304	59.68%	Rajinder Singh		ABJS	3,685	26.48%	4,619
65	Marh	74.87%	Guranditta Mal		INC	5,393	40.87%	N. Mal		ABJS	4,357	33.02%	1,036
66	Jammu Cantonment	76.3%	P. T. Dutta		INC	10,692	54.6%	R. Singh		JKNC	4,945	25.25%	5,747
67	Jammu South	70.26%	R. Nath		ABJS	10,590	54.96%	R. Nath		INC	6,832	35.46%	3,758
68	Jammu North	67.54%	Prem Nath		ABJS	10,262	59.7%	B. Ram		INC	5,938	34.55%	4,324
69	Akhnoor	80.08%	Dharam Pal		INC	11,267	60.45%	K. Lal		ABJS	3,322	17.82%	7,945
70	Chhamb	82.29%	Chhaju Ram Lamba		INC	9,267	43.39%	S. Singh		ABJS	8,135	38.09%	1,132
71	Nowshera	64.45%	Beli Ram		INC	6,454	38.84%	N. Kumar		PSP	5,060	30.45%	1,394
72	Darhal	59.75%	Chowdhary Mohmmad Hussain		INC	13,071	71.03%	R. Lal		ABJS	3,055	16.6%	10,016
73	Rajouri	67.38%	A. Rashid		INC	7,653	56.54%	P. Ram		ABJS	2,823	20.86%	4,830
74	Mendhar	-	M. Aslam		INC	Elected Unopposed
75	Poonch Haveli	47.%	Ghulam Mohammad Mir		INC	10,935	74.94%	S. R. Nath		ABJS	3,145	21.55%	7,790

Government formation

On 17 March, a 14-member ministry headed by G. M. Sadiq was sworn in. The Cabinet ministers included Girdhari Lal Dogra, D. P. Dhar, Mohammed Ayub Khan, Peer Giasuddin and Kanwar Ranjit Singh. Abdul Gani Lone was among the Ministers of State, and Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was among the Deputy Ministers.

References

1. Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir 2012, pp. 380–381.
2. 1967 J&K elections
3. Statistical Report on General Election, 1967, Election Commission of India.
4. Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace 2003, pp. 82–83.
5. Kedar Nath Kumar (1990), Political Parties in India, Their Ideology and Organisation, Mittal Publications, pp. 108–, ISBN   978-81-7099-205-9
6. Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace 2003, p. 82.
7. Das Gupta, Jammu and Kashmir 2012, p. 380.
8. Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace 2003, p. 85.
9. Bose, Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace 2003, p. 86.
10. "Jammu & Kashmir 1967". Election Commission of India . Retrieved 22 June 2022.
11. "Statistical Report on General Election, 1967 to the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir" (PDF). Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2024.

Bibliography

• Bose, Sumantra (2003), Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace, Harvard University Press, ISBN   0-674-01173-2
• Das Gupta, Jyoti Bhusan (2012) [first published 1968], Jammu and Kashmir, Springer, ISBN   978-94-011-9231-6